Self-threading needle



y 1954 H. SURBECK I I I 2,677,485

SELF-THREADING NEEDLE Filed Jan. 14, 1952 2 v r r 2 Sheets-Sheet l I W/r m 5 5%; f I

I 5 I .4. E5.

' INVENTOR BY I i z m iTTORNEYS May 4, 1954 SELF-THREADING NEEDLE Filed Jan. 14, 1952 2 SheetsSheet 2 I z 5. I ./6 X W INVENTVOR,

ATTORNEY;

| H. SURBECK 2,677,485

Patented May 4, 1954 UNITED STATES i A'iENT OFFICE SELF-'THREADING NEEDLE Leighton Homer Surbeck, New York, N. Y.. Application January 14, 1952,- Serial No. 266,292

8 Claims. 1

This invention. relates to sewing needles, and more particularly to a self-threading needle, i. a, one in which the needle itself is so formed as to. facilitate the threading thereof, eliminating much. of the difilculty, ocular strain, andv general inconvenience occasioned by the necessity of projecting a thread through the eye of a needle in the usual manner.

It is a general object. of the invention to provide a sewing needle of generally conventional form, comprising a slender, generally cylindrical shaft provided with a sharp point at one: end, the other end being blunt and being provided with an eye to receive the thread, the blunt or head end of the needle being so formed as to facilitate alignment of the end of a thread with the eye of the needle, as well as the actual projection ofv the thread end through said eye.

More. specificallmit is an object of the invention to provide a needle of the class described;

that wall of the eye nearest the head or blunt endof the needle being inclined relative to the' axis of the needle, so that the. said wall intersects the peripheral surface of the needle at an acute angle, so that the end of a thread, when. in engagement with said end wall of the eye, will. be guided through the eyeto the other side; oi?v the needle.

further object is the provision of a needle formed described in the preceding paragraph and. provided also with a notch or groove in that portion of the needle between the eye and the blunt end, said groove terminating. at or adjacent the said point of intersection of the. end walls of the eye and. the peripheral surface ofthe needle, the purpose of said notch or groove being to facilitate initial engagement of a thread in such manner that, by subsequent. relative longitudinal movements of the thread and needle, the thread end may first be brought into position within the eye of the needle and in line with the aforesaid acute intersection; and then caused to progress upwardly along the said inclined wall so as to be projected through the eye.

A still further object is the provision of a needle such as described in the preceding paragraph, and provided further with a longitudinal groove extending from the eye toward the pointed end of. the. needle, said groove being of suiiicient depth to. accommodate a thread of the size suited forms with the particular needle, so" that when the thread is in position for the commencement of the threading movement, the" entire thicknessof the thread may be encompassed Within the cylindrical outline of the: needle, whereby the thread end will necessarily be brought into engagementv with the aforesaid inclined wall when the needle and. thread are moved relative to. each other.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the description which follows, read in connection with the accompanying drawings in. which Figure 1 is an elevation-a1 view of a needle; formed according to the invention, looking from that side on. which the head end Wall of the eye extends nearest to the blunt end of the needle;

Figure 2 is a. view similar to Figure 1 buttaken at in the rotation of the needle about. its own axis, the head portion of the needle being shown in. axial section;

Figures 3, 4 and 5. are transverse sections on lines 33', 5-4 and 5-'-5, respectively, of Fig'- ure 2;

Figures 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged views similar to Figure 2 showing successive relative positions of the needle and a thread in the process of: threading the needle;

Figures 9 and 10 are similar to Figures. 6;, 7i and 8 but showing a loop. of thread being pro:- jected through the eye, rather than a thread end;

Figures 11 and 12. are similar to Figures 9 and 10, but illustrating the use of a modified form.

of needle; and

Figures 13 and 14 are similar views illus trating the use of another modified form of 1 needle.

In order to facilitate anundersta-nding of theinvention, reference is. made. to the embed-1+ ments thereof shown in. the accompanying draw ings and detailed descriptive languagev is ems ployed. It will nevertheless be understood. that no limitation of the invention is thereby in tended and that various changes and alterations are contemplated such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which thev 1 from that of a conventional needle. Thus, as

best seen in Figure 2 and Figures 6-8, the eye H is formed with its axis inclined to the longitudinal axis of the needle, that is to say, its end walls 12 and I3, which are, of course, transversely curved as seen in Figure 1, are inclined to the axis of the needle so that, for example, head end wall [2 intersects the peripheral surface of the needle in an acute angle at one end of the wall, i. e., at point l4 and an obtuse angle at the opposite end of the wall, point [5. The end wall 13 nearest the point of the needle is preferably, though not necessarily, similarly inclined.

The short portion lying between the eye H and the blunt end of the needle is provided with a longitudinal groove i6 opening in the blunt end of the needle and extending, with decreasing depth, to substantially the point 14 at which the end wall I2 of the eye intersects at an acute angle with the peripheral surface of the needle. The greatest depth of the groove I8, at the blunt extremity of the needle, may exceed one-half the diameter of the needle, but need not necessarily do so. It should, however, be of a depth somewhat in excess of the thickness of the thread to be used with the needle so that, as an initial step in the threading of the needle an end length of thread may be imprisoned between the walls of the groove [6 and the surface of a finger of the person using the needle as seen in Figure 6.

At the opposite or point end of the eye there is-formed a second longitudinal groove I! which extends toward the point of the needle for a short distance, for example for a longitudinal distance corresponding generally to the longitudinal dimension of the eye H. The groove H has a depth approximating the thickness of the thread to be used with the needle, the purpose of the groove ll being to allow a length of the thread to lie wholly within the outline of the cylindrical surface of the needle when imprisoned in this position by contact with a finger of the user, as seen for example in Figures '7 and 8. The groove 11, of course, opens into the eye II at a point opposite, i. e., in alignment with, the point M of acute intersection.

From the foregoing description it is believed that the manner of using the needle of Figures 1-8 will be easily understood. As seen in Figures '7, 8 and 9, the first operation in threading the needle is to place the groove 16 at the blunt end of the needle over the thread It; at a point near an end of the latter, meanwhile pressing the thread upwardly with the finger so as to maintain it in the groove IS. The thread being gripped by the user so that it cannot have longitudinal movement relative to the users finger, a relative movement is then brought about between the needle and the thread as by moving the needle to the left or the finger to the right to the position seen in Figure 7. In the course of this movement a length of the thread is brought into the groove I! and is held there by engagement with the finger, the end portion of the thread being thus brought into the eye H with its extreme end in alignment with the point It, at the lower end of the inclined wall i2 of the eye. A reverse relative movement of the finger and needle is then produced by moving the needle to the right or the finger to the left, so that the extreme end la of the thread is engaged by the inclined wall l2 and is guided upwardly through the eye II, when it may be grasped and the thread pulled through the eye to the desired extent.

Instead of the operation just described, the

needle of Figures 1-8 may be threaded by projecting a loop of the thread, instead of an end thereof, through the eye of the needle, as illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. Thus, if the groove I6 is placed over a portion of the thread at a greater distance from its end than is contemplated in the preceding explanation, and the needle is then manipulated relative to the finger as described above, the thread will be caught at the point I4 of intersection of the inclined wall 12 and the periphery of the needle, and continuing movement of the needle toward the right, relative to the finger of the user will cause the formation of a loop 20 in the thread, which loop will be projected through the eye of the needle. The only limitation on this manner of threading the needle is that the eye must be of a certain minimum length depending upon the flexibility of the thread with which it is used or, in other words, the thread must be sufficiently flexible to permit the formation of a loop of such dimensions as may be projected through the eye.

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate a similar operation but a somewhat modified form of needle. In this modification, the wall I3 at the point end of the eye is inclined oppositely to the inclination of the wall [2 so that it intersects the periphery of the needle at an acute angle at a point 2| opposite the point 14. The longitudinal groove 11', therefore, does not open into the eye of the needle, as in the form of needle illustrated in Figures 1-10, but terminates just short of the eye, as shown.

Using the form of needle seen in Figures 11 and 12, a loop of thread may be projected through the needle by alternate movements of the needle in opposite directions, relative to the users finger, the thread being frictionally engaged alternately by the points [4 and 2 I, to cause the formation of a loop 22 as seen in Figure 12. Alternatively, a thread end may be projected through the eye in the same manner as described in connection with Figures 6-8. For projecting a loop through the eye, the acute angles 14 and 21 could, of course, be right angles as well, but for projecting a thread end through the eye, as described in connection with Figures 6-8, inclined walls 12 and [3 are preferred.

In Figures 13 and 14, the wall 13' at the point end of the eye is inclined as described in connection with Figures 11 and 12, but the wall l2 at the other end of the eye is similarly, rather than oppositely, inclined and intersects the groove H5 at a point lying inwardly of the periphery of the needle, or in other words, the groove 16 opens into the eye of the needle. In this modification the groove I! or ll of the previously described forms is omitted. This form of needle may be threaded simply by placing the groove l6 over the end portion of a thread and moving the needle to the left as seen in Figures 13 and 14, whereby the thread end is caused to engage the inclined wall [3 and is thus projected through the eye.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Self-threading sewing needle comprising a generally cylindrical shaft having an elongated, pointed portion of conventional form and an integral blunt head portion, said head portion being formed with an elongated eye therethrough, the wall at one end of said eye being inclined relative to the axis of said shaft, one end of said end wall intersecting the peripheral surface 01 said shaft at an acute angle, the head end of said shaft being formed with a longitudinal groove extending from the blunt extremity thereof substantially to the said eye, the said groove lying on the same side of said needle as the said acute angle, the depth and width of said groove at its intersection with the blunt extremity of the needle being not less in extent than the width of said eye.

2. Needle according to claim 1, said shaft being formed with a second longitudinal groove extending substantially from the point end of said eye toward the pointed end of the needle, said second groove being in longitudinal alignment with the said first groove.

3. Needle according to claim 1, the wall at the head end of the eye being inclined, said shaft being formed with a second longitudinal groove extending from the point end of said eye toward th pointed end of the needle, said groove opening into said eye at a point in longitudinal alignment with the said acute intersection.

4. Self-threading sewing needle comprising a generally cylindrical shaft having an elongated,

pointed portion of conventional form and an integral blunt head portion, said head portion being formed with an elongated eye therethrough, the wall at one end of said eye being inclined relative to the axis of said shaft, one end of said end wall intersecting the peripheral surface of said shaft at an acute angle, the head end of said shaft being formed with a longitudinal groove extending from the blunt extremity thereof substantially to the said eye, the said groove lying on the same side of said needle as the said acute angle, the depth and width of said groove at its intersection with the blunt extremity of the needle being not less in extent than the width of said eye, said shaft being formed with a second longitudinal groove extending substantially from the point end of said eye toward the pointed end of the needle, said second groove being in longitudinal alignment with the said first groove.

5. Needle according to claim 1, the other end wall of said eye being oppositely inclined to intersect th peripheral surface of said shaft at an acute angle at a point opposite said first acute angle intersection.

6. Needle according to claim 1, the said inclined wall being the wall at that end of the eye nearest the point of the needle, and said longitudinal groove opening int-c said eye at a point opposite said acute angle intersection.

'7. Self-threading sewing needle comprising a generally cylindrical shaft having an elongated, pointed portion of conventional form and an integral blunt head portion, said head portion being formed with an elongated eye therethrough, the head end of said shaft being formed with a longitudinal groove extending from the blunt extremity thereof substantially to the said eye, the depth and width of said groove at its intersection with the blunt extremity of the needle being not less in extent than the width of said eye, the plane containing the longitudinal axis of said groove and the longitudinal axis of the needle being coincident with a plane extending through said eye and containing said axis of said needle.

8. Self-threading sewing needle comprising a generally cylindrical shaft having an elongated, pointed portion of conventional form and an integral head portion having a blunt end, said head portion being formed with an elongated eye therethrough, the wall at the head end of the eye being continuous and being inclined throughout its length relative to the axis of said shaft, one end of said end wall intersecting the peripheral surface of said shaft at an acute angle, said shaft being formed with a longitudinal groove extending from the point end of said eye toward the pointed end of the needle, said groove opening into said eye at a point in longitudinal alignment with the said acute intersection, said end wall extending from said acute intersection toward the blunt end of the shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 108,737 Supler Oct. 25, 1870 360,884 Hutchinson Apr. 12, 1887 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 9,271 Great Britain 1890 

